‘We’ll strengthen it together’

Housing
New Zealand has launched a kaupapa Māori language line in
its Customer Service Centre as part of efforts to contribute
to the continued strengthening of Te Reo
Māori.

Anyone
calling HNZ’s Customer Service Centre on 0800 801 601 can
now ask to have their conversation in Te Reo
Māori.

Being able to korero in te reo
Māori is part of Mary’s ahurea tuakiri – her cultural
identity.

With her whānau hailing from
Waikato-Tainui, Maniapoto and Tairāwhiti, te reo was a big
part of her upbringing.

Her Nan, now 98, taught Mary
and her family different dialects that to this day mean she
can quickly establish where someone is from, simply by
speaking with them in te reo.

“I’m really
passionate about our te reo, and being able to share it with
anyone and everyone who’s interested,” she says.

Perhaps it is unsurprising, then, that Mary is excited
to be the person behind the Housing New Zealand Customer
Service Centre’s new kaupapa Māori line, which has now
launched as part of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori
celebrations.

Anyone calling HNZ’s Customer
Service Centre on 0800 801 601 can now ask to have their
conversation in Te Reo Māori, and they will be put through
to Mary.

“When agencies set up a language line for
their customers, this is ordinarily to meet an existing
demand,” says HNZ National Customer Support Manager Julia
Campbell.

“That’s not the case here. We’re
hoping that by setting up our Te Reo Māori service, we’ll
help create that demand, encourage our te reo-speaking
customers to use it and help the language continue to
flourish.”

Julia said the idea for HNZ to create
the service came out of a similar language line offered in
Samoan – the language most requested by people phoning the
call centre.

“From that, I thought it was
important to acknowledge one of our official languages in
New Zealand, Māori, and offer this as a service.

“It was important to me because it helps to give te
reo life and therefore tangible meaning. It shows a
commitment to our obligations to Māori and the Treaty of
Waitangi as a state organisation, and it supports the
resurgence of te reo in Aotearoa.”

Julia says
“we have come a long way as a country” since the 1980s,
where call centre operator Naida Glavish – who would later
become President of the Māori Party – was threatened with
dismissal for answering a call by saying “kia ora”.

However, more could always be done, and the Māori
language line contributed to the theory that “to keep a
language alive you must use it”, Julia says.

“We
only have one fluent Māori speaker in our CSC, but one
person can make a significant difference – as Naida has
shown.”

Mary’s hope for the service is that it
contributes to the widespread efforts across Aotearoa to
strengthen the use of te reo, and the Kiwi identity along
with it. She has already noticed how powerful the language
can be when speaking with customers – be they Māori or
tauiwi.

“The conversation softens because they
know they’re speaking to their own, they’re speaking
with someone in Aotearoa. What’s important for me with our
Māori line is the availability, the control of the kohanga
reo and just having that conversation and delivering what we
need to deliver.”

Using the language has also
helped forge bonds with her colleagues, Mary said. Te Reo
Māori is one of many languages used among people from a
diverse range of cultures and ethnicities in the Customer
Service Centre, and sharing their language and way of life
contributes to one of Housing New Zealand’s key values of
kotahitanga – an organisation that works together in an
environment of trust, care, contribution, humility and
learning.

“Other people within our Housing New
Zealand whanau, we’ll strengthen it together. Like I say
to the people on the floor here with me – you don’t have
to be Māori to learn to speak Māori.

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